Appeals board OKs sign

At a special Monday night meeting, discussion was held about the intent of the long-standing zoning ordinance that prohibits signs that are “flashing.”

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By ANN ROWLANDFor the Daily Tribune

Cheboygan Daily Tribune - Cheboygan, MI

By ANN ROWLANDFor the Daily Tribune

Posted Mar. 12, 2013 at 9:54 PM

By ANN ROWLANDFor the Daily Tribune

Posted Mar. 12, 2013 at 9:54 PM

CHEBOYGAN

At a special Monday night meeting, discussion was held about the intent of the long-standing zoning ordinance that prohibits signs that are “flashing.”

After the talking was done, the Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to grant a variance to Clayton and Doris Moulder, owners of the Continental Motel for their new illuminated sign.

Zoning Administrator and City Manager Dale Stuart presented the request for the variance to Russell Barrette, Roger Kopernik, Billie Livingston, and Mayor Richard Sangster, with the Moulders and two other community members present.

After much discussion about the intent of the ordinance, and what specifically is meant by the term “flashing”, Stuart reminded the board that it is not for them to re-write the policy, but to decide whether or not this particular sign falls under that law or not.

Stuart felt that any illuminated sign that changes regularly, or has “movement” is a potential distraction to motorists, who “should have their eyes on the road.” According to his interpretation of the ordinance, the Continental Inn sign would be disallowed.

Sangster agreed that certain kinds of signs can be a distraction, but pointed out that the ordinance was written long before the advent of LED lighting, which is now standard.

“A sign that changes is not the same as one that flashes. A sign that must be changed manually could, hypothetically, have a guy out there changing it all day long,” he said. “That would be more distracting, I think, than a sign like this one, which accomplishes the same thing but more efficiently, and certainly more cost effectively.”

The Continental Inn’s new sign is the same size as the old one, according to Clayton Moulder.

“We can’t imagine an instance when we would have it flashing,” he said. “This corner is too busy. We just want to be able to put information up there, and have the capability of it changing to (for example) notify guests about two wedding parties on the same weekend. And we’d like it to scroll to accommodate longer words, such as ‘congratulations’.”

He explained in an interview that the sign was installed late in December.

“We obtained a permit to put up the sign, and were informed that because it was an illuminated one, we needed to go before the Zoning Board for final approval,” he said. “But because they don’t meet every month, and because we were given the permit, we went ahead, not believing that the sign went against the ordinance. We wanted to do things the right way.”

The motion “to grant the variance to use the sign as non-flashing, but to allow scrolling and changing” was made by Sangster and seconded by Barrette.